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By Judy Scott Feldman, Ph.D.
Presented to the Society of Architectural Historians, June 2000
• Introduction
• Conflicting Trends
• Historic Concepts
• The Mall We Know Today
• The World War II Memorial Design Concept
• The Effect on the Mall
• Whose Vision?
• A Failed Process
• Conclusion
In recent decades the National Mall in Washington has changed significantly from what Pierre L'Enfant envisioned in 1791 and what the McMillan Commission in 1901 established as the framework for an open and green public space. The eastern, "upper" half [slide- EAST MALL] on the higher grounds between the Capitol and Washington Monument retains the open sense of L'Enfant's baroque avenue and the McMillan Plan's parkland flanked by museums. The western portions of the Mall in the meantime [slide-WEST MALL] have taken on a decidedly funereal character with the addition of the multi-acre Vietnam Veterans and Korean Veterans Memorials flanking the Lincoln Memorial.
The proposed National World War II Memorial will add yet another war memorial to the western end of the Mall. Because it will be located directly on the central panel of the Mall between the Lincoln and Washington monuments - and not off to the sides as in the case of the Vietnam and Korean memorials -- it also will shape a fundamentally new understanding of the Mall as public space.
In this paper I examine the proposed World War II Memorial as an illustration of the changing character of the Mall as public space and as stage for our civic rituals of national identity. My questions are three:
- What kind of public memorial space does the proposed WWII Memorial envision?
- What effect will the proposed memorial have on the Mall as a place for public gatherings and recreation?
- Whose vision is being manifest by this new conception of the Mall?
Next: Conflicting trends
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ANALYSIS & COMMENTARY
• Needed: A National Mall Conservancy
• Changing Face of the National Public Space
• Memories & Mishaps
• Dead End for the Freedom Trail?
• This Singular Space: Against the Memorial
• Media Coverage & Commentary
• Public Testimonials
• Mall Watch
• Additional Resources on the Web
and more ...
TESTIMONY/COMMENTS
• March 26, 2007, NPS Mall Plan: Additional Comments by the NPCA
• March 12, 2007, NPS Mall Plan: Comments by Save Our Mall
• January 15, 2007, NPS Mall Plan: Comments by Guild of Professional Tour Guides
• December 26, 2006, NPS Mall Plan: Comments by the NPCA
• August 3, 2006: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center project
• October 6, 2005: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center project
• July 21, 2005: Commission of Fine Arts on Lincoln Memorial Security
• April 12, 2005: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Subcommittee on National Parks
• March 17, 2005: Lincoln Memorial Security/ CFA
LETTERS
• April 12, 2005: The Honorable Craig Thomas, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate
MEDIA COVERAGE
• Washington Monument Security
• World War II Memorial
• Vietnam Veterans Education Center
• African American History Museum
and more ...
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